AMMAN: The Jordanian army said on Tuesday it downed two drones carrying drugs from Syria in the latest incident raising concerns over increased smuggling across the border.
The army statement said the drones had crossed into its territory and their hauls of crystal methamphetamine were seized. It warned it would act forcefully to prevent any attempt to destabilize the country’s security.
Jordanian officials say the increasing use of drones carrying drugs, weapons and explosives is adding a new dimension to a cross-border billion-dollar drug war the US ally has blamed on Iranian-backed militias that hold sway in southern Syria.
Syria is accused by Arab governments and the West of producing the highly addictive and lucrative amphetamine captagon and other drugs and organizing its smuggling into the Gulf, with Jordan a main transit route.
President Bashar Assad’s government denies allegations of Syria’s involvement in drug-making and smuggling, as well as any complicity by Iranian-backed militias protected by units within the Syrian army and security forces.
Iran says the allegations are part of a Western plot against the country.
Jordanian officials say talks with senior Syrian officials to curb Iranian-run smuggling networks have reached a dead-end due to the inability of Damascus to impose order over its southern region where a state of lawlessness prevails.
Jordan downs two drones carrying drugs from Syria — army
https://arab.news/m6wzc
Jordan downs two drones carrying drugs from Syria — army
- The drones had crossed into its territory and their hauls of crystal methamphetamine were seized
- Jordanian officials say the increasing use of drones carrying drugs, weapons and explosives is adding a new dimension to a cross-border billion-dollar drug war
Sudan general ready to talk to Trump for peace
- Sudan’s de facto leader, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, is ready to work with US President Donald Trump to resolve the conflict splitting his country, the foreign ministry said Tuesday
PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s de facto leader, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, is ready to work with US President Donald Trump to resolve the conflict splitting his country, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.
The ministry released a statement after the army chief visited Riyadh as a guest of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who recently presented Trump with a proposed Sudan peace plan during a Washington visit.
According to Sudan’s statement, Burhan hailed Trump’s “determination to engage in efforts to achieve peace and end the war in the country, with the participation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“He affirmed Sudan’s keenness to work with President Trump, his secretary of state, and his envoy for peace in Sudan to achieve this unquestionably noble goal,” it said, referring to Marco Rubio and US envoy Massad Boulos.
International peace efforts led by mediators from the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been at a standstill since Burhan rejected Boulos’s last suggested framework.
The RSF says it supports the international ceasefire plan, but heavy fighting continues, notably in the southern region of Kordofan.
For the moment, no new date has been announced for talks, neither under the US-led mediators nor a parallel United Nations’ led effort.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a war pitting the army, which controls the north and east of the country, against the RSF, dominant in the west and certain areas of the south.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted millions and triggered what the UN calls “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”
